The Green Matchbook

Thoughts on Ted Lasso’s latest episode….

Having read the twitter feeds on the meaning of the green matchbook in this week’s Ted Lasso episode, I was curious that no one made a comment about how the medium/psychic was portrayed. Most people tweeted about… was the green matchbook that was given to her at the restaurant actually related to the medium’s reading? Was it a coincidence? Was she indeed going to be a mother?….which would be a bad move by the writers several noted, to be so obvious.

I was struck with how seemingly normal it was to go to a medium, that the medium was portrayed as a reasonable “non-witchy” person and we were shown how she was hearing multiple voices at once which has been commonly reported by mediums. Rebecca went to the reading for a lark at the insistence of her mother. She appeared to not take it seriously…which is common and yet she went. When she didn’t understand what the medium was referring to when she mentioned a green matchbook, she appeared skeptical of the medium/psychic’s ability. When she was told she would be a mother, she was furious and left before the reading was over. And yet we saw her later searching her drawers for a green matchbook - before it actually materialized in the restaurant scene. It seemed that she was uncertain and questioning and yet somewhat hopeful that the medium was legit. It reflected the ambivalence that many people feel about mediums and psychics….until what they say in the reading comes to pass. I think the writers were respectful about mediums and that the predictions will eventually turn out to be true but not in the straightforward way that was suggested. But we will have to wait and see if my prediction comes true.